March 23, 2011

Light Wheat Roasted Garlic Farmhouse Bread

The other night I was whipping up some bread for dinner and Gene walked through the kitchen. He said "What kind is that?"

I replied "Just basic bread...why?"

He said, "Will you make it garlic?"

"You mean like broil it with butter and garlic after it's done?"

"Nah," he said. "I mean, can you put the garlic in it now?"

There are days when the man is a genius. I hadn't thought of it. But I'm sure glad he did!

This bread is a light wheat that uses a combination of all purpose and whole wheat pastry flour, eggs, and a "goodly amount" (love how archaic that phrase sounds) of roasted garlic. The recipe was inspired by the wonderfulFaith from War Eagle Mill in War Eagle, Arkansas, who taught Aunti Miranda, Ann, and I her farmhouse bread recipe last year. In this version I did cut the recipe in halfish so that it now makes one 8-9" diameter boule or one large loaf (for example: bakes nicely in the Pampered Chef loaf crock).

1. In a medium bowl, mix: milk, honey, and butter. Add yeast to mixture and let stand for appox. 5 minutes. Once bloom is complete, mix in egg and garlic.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, 1 cup of the pastry flour, and salt. Make a small well in the middle and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix until well incorporated and sticky.

3. With pastry flour, lightly flour a work surface. Remove dough from bowl and knead for about 10 to 15 minutes until dough is firm and slightly sticky. If dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup of pastry flour and knead. Continue to add flour, if needed, for workably elastic dough. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

4. Once doubled, shape dough into loaf or boule. For loaf, place dough in lightly greased loaf pan after shaping. For boule, place dough in a lightly greased sloped-sided pie pan or baking sheet with lightly greased parchment. If desired, can decorate the loaves by snipping a design into the tops with kitchen shears or by making slash marks with a serrated knife.

5. Cover loosely and allow dough to rise for second time, about 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

6. Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and bread is nicely browned. When you tap the loaf, it will sound hollow. Allow an extra 5-10 minutes if baking in crockware. Optional: Brush just-out-of-the-oven loaves with melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt.